Local teens travel to D.C. for March for Life rally

By Bob Campbell ~ Southeast Missourian

Area junior high and high school students who often had joined prayers to curb abortion learned Wednesday in Washington, D.C., that more people than they might have imagined share that desire.

Accompanied by 35 adults, 65 eighth- and 11th-graders from St. Denis School in Benton, Mo., St. Vincent de Paul Parish School and Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau joined a gigantic crowd of fellow Catholics and other abortion protesters for the 41st annual March for Life early Wednesday afternoon, walking and carrying placards -- in snow, slush and freezing temperatures -- from the National Mall in Washington to Capitol Hill and the U.S. Supreme Court.

After a 10 a.m. Mass and just before a teens rally in the D.C. Armory, St. Denis principal Karen Powers reported seeing "a massive amount of people who believe the way I believe, that Roe vs. Wade should be overturned."

Referring to the Jan. 22, 1973, Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas state law prohibiting abortion unless the mother's life was in jeopardy, Powers said, "There are 6,000 people at the armory and another 20,000 to 25,000 at the Verizon Center for the Mass and teens rally there.

"The children pray and hear us talk about being pro-life, but here they see they are not alone," said Powers. "There are a lot of people out there who believe the same way they do.

"Millions of babies are being killed, and we should do something about it."

Powers took in the Marches for Life of 2008 and 2011, she said. Emphasizing this year's theme of opting for adoption instead of abortion, Wednesday's march began with a crowd unofficially said to be in the hundreds of thousands.

Notre Dame juniors Megan McCrate and Stephen Hoffmeister had been to the Capitol as eighth-graders, and they said while there Tuesday afternoon -- while walking through a snowstorm -- that participating in the nation's biggest anti-abortion demonstration was an experience they would remember for the rest of their lives.

"I love being here with all these people who care so much about the cause we believe in," McCrate said.

Noting that the teens "did have to bring a lot of warm clothes" because of the winter storm system that hit the East Coast last week, Hoffmeister said it was "exciting to see all the children and young people come out and support the cause."

Walking in the group with McCrate and Hoffmeister toward the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Tuesday, Notre Dame American history teacher Barb Tomaszewski said adoption is an excellent alternative to abortion because there is no shortage of couples throughout the nation who are eager to adopt newborn babies.

"We feel that there should not be abortion," Tomaszewski said. "Abortion is wrong."

An Associated Press reporter in Washington told the Southeast Missourian Wednesday afternoon that the Washington Metropolitan Police had stopped issuing official estimates of crowds because they had been proved wrong in the past.